Garden Tomato Soup

I'm pretty disappointed in our tomato crop this year.
We planted cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and then plain old beefsteak tomatoes.
Someone in our house LOVES tomatoes after all!
But the only plant that really did well was the yellow pear tomato.  In fact the other two plants (in the same bed) got blossom end rot!  Really sad, and I guess next year we need to feed them some calcium early!

When we planted 4 tomato plants in May, we were hopping for a huge haul and some serious canning.
After the nice hot weather we've had the last few weeks we had about 3 lbs of ripe tomatoes. Not nearly enough to can with!
So, I made tomato soup tonight instead!

In know we've been really slacking on the whole Sunday Supper thing.  (But Gabe was in NC all week and it was tough being a single working mom all week!)  I do promise we'll be back to hosting Sunday Suppers again before the year is over.  Things will settle down a bit here after Gabe gets back from hunting with his dad next week!

Anyway...the soup was really easy!
Saute up some red onion and carrots.

Then add garlic, fresh tomatoes, some sugar, a little bit of tomato paste, chicken stock, fresh basil and it looks like this:

After some simmering...
Put it through a food mill, add some cream and enjoy!

We had to top ours with a little more basil and chives.  Levi said he didn't want any "green stuff" on his.

Since fall is officially here we also made pumpkin pancakes and pumpkin bread today.  Autumn is the yummiest season of all!

First Day of School!

This big kid started preschool today!

He was so excited!
I'm going to be honest, Mom and Dad were a little nervous.  Levi's never been left with new people so we weren't sure how he'd handle being left at school.  We've visited his classroom twice and talked a lot about school.  He must have been ready because he walked right in.  Found his cubby.  And went right to the table to play with the RED play doh.  Gave us kisses and then didn't even care when we waved good-bye.

First Day of Preschool Interview:
Levi (age 3)

What's your favorite color?
RED

What do you want to do when you're a grown up? (like Mommy and Daddy)
I think...I will maybe...um...I might like to do something...like do a project.

What's your favorite song?
The wheels...you know that song.

What's your favorite book?
SkippyJohn Jones

What was your favorite part of school today?
Playing with kids

Good-Bye Summer

I'd say we spent our unofficial last weekend of summer finishing things off right!

Friday, we got out of town early to get to Eugene and listen to Gabe's dad play music here.  Good beer, great music and time with grandparents.  Perfect!  Then Saturday afternoon, Tom had another gig up in Oakridge, so we went up to hear some more music at the park.

Levi got to ride around the bike path, throw rocks in the river, see Grandma Winnie and enjoy Grandpa Tom's harmonics.  Good times!

Yesterday we went down to the Oregon State Fair.
Levi's first trip to the fair was full of fun.
He loved looking at the animals (but not the petting zoo so much).

He loved the rides!

This roller coaster he did with Daddy was his favorite.

And he loved the food!  It wouldn't be the fair without food.  A lunch of hand dipped corn dogs, curly fries and strawberry lemonade was topped off with Levi's first taste of cotton candy.  (Mommy and Daddy didn't share their deep fried Snicker's bar with him.)

Today we've been hanging out at home, getting some much needed yard work done.  And I'm slowly trying to wrap my brain around the fact that another school year starts tomorrow.  I'm not ready to say good-bye to summer.  It was such a great one!

Introducing...

our newest little friend:
Addison Grace

Levi and I have been talking about her arrival for about a week.  Alexis and Eric are a few of Levi's favorite people, he's been know to call them his best friends.  So when she finally arrived on Wednesday, Levi couldn't wait to meet her and asked me several times when we'd be able to go.  Then he got a little shy when he finally did get to meet her on Friday evening.  Silly kid!
Levi has made several comments to both Gabe and I (separately I should add) about wanting a little sister.  Maybe Addison can bee Levi's "little sister".  After all she won't ever have a big brother, and Levi will never have a little sister.

That introductory meeting was the kick off of our weekend.
We've also spent the weekend getting stuff off the to-do list.
Hanging out at Jen and Rich's BBQ.
Driving out to the gorge to do a quick morning hike to Upper Horsetail Falls.

Levi loves this Lego headlamp we got him for his birthday.  This "cave" behind the waterfall is why we let him wear it on the hike.  But honestly, it's on him much of the day at home anyway.

And since we were out that way, we had to do a quick stop at Multnomah Falls.  I'm hopeful Levi will be up for the hike to the top next year.  Very hopeful.

To conclude the weekend Gabe made the most amazing Kalua pork.  I'm being totally honest when I say it was better than some of the Kalua pork we've eaten in Hawaii.  It was that good!  He rubbed it with green tea, salt and pepper.  (Thanks for the recipe America's Test Kitchen!) Smoked it in the BBQ for a few hours and then braised it in the oven for a few more.  Seriously delicious!  If only waves were crashing out our window...maybe next summer.

Oaks Park

Levi and I decided we needed to end summer vacation with a BANG!
So on Wednesday we spent our last day of summer vacation at Oaks Amusement Park.  I heard from a friend that they open early two days a week for kids under 6 so we decided it would be fun to try it out.  Levi was excited about the bumper cars (which it turns out he's too little to do.)  I was glad Levi and I could do one more big fun thing together before I go back to work.

The rides were pretty scary for Levi at first.  (And the first ride was on the carousel.)  But once he got comfortable, and saw how much fun everyone was having, he did too!  Some rides he could go on by himself.

On others I got to join in on the fun!
Here we are on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

We had a blast.  Oaks Park will definitely be on our list of summer adventures next year!

I'll be back tomorrow to share some things about our weekend and introduce a wonderful new friend we met last night!  After that, I might be MIA for awhile since I'll be back to the grind.

All good things must come to an end

Thankfully, not quite yet!

Levi and I have one more week of summer vacation.  Next week at this time I'll be gearing up to head back to school.  Prepping my classroom and planning lessons to welcome 200+ new 8th graders to American History.  (Technically, 4 days.  I have to go to a planning meeting all day on Thursday! Yuck!)

We've been making every moment count.
Here's what we've been up to over the last week:
Levi had to go in for his yearly check up at the doctor.  I'm happy to report he's almost 40 inches and almost 39 lbs!
We went to the zoo with friends.
We finally filled up Levi's pool to splash and swim in the 100 degree afternoon.

We picked peaches at the farm.  (Well, I picked while Levi played in the dirt.)

Took Levi's first MAX ride down to Saturday market.
Bought the most amazing Chester blackberries from the farmer's market.
And of course we had to play with all Levi's new toys.
Here is our young scholar at work learning his letters.  Levi can identify about 10 letters in the alphabet but we haven't really worked at writing them.  (We aren't even sure yet if he's a lefty or a righty.  He uses both hands for so many things still.)  At dinner tonight we started talking about things that start with "F" so I decided after dinner I'd show him how to write "F".  I showed him, wrote one with him, and this is the one he wrote all by himself.

He's saying: "F".  Having him say something is about the only way I can get him to look at the camera.

I just noticed how bad this guys buck teeth are!  Guess we should start saving for corrective orthodontic treatment now.  Braces aren't covered in our dental plan...

Levi's 3rd Birthday

Fishing and Crawdads

We joined Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey down at their property near Yachats this weekend.  On the agenda was a great weekend fishing, chasing down crawdads, and spending some great time with  grandparents.
Levi and I were ready for some fishing on Siltcoos Lake.  Here Levi is showing off his fishing shirt, proof that he's ready catch fish!

The captain and all his crew enjoyed a beautiful morning on the lake.

The morning was beautiful but the fish just weren't biting.  We didn't do much catching.  Gabe (and Levi) were the only successful fishermen.  Gabe caught 2 newts, a little squawfish and this little trout!  Like a true fisher man, Levi will tell you he caught a fish on the lake...and Daddy helped him.

After an unsuccessful morning on the lake.  We headed to Indian Creek to find our dinner!  Thank goodness the crawdads were plentiful.  In just an hour and a half in the creek, we caught 277 crawdads.

There's a tradition of kissing crawdads on this adventure.  Levi would only follow the tradition of kissing the crawdads after they were cooked.  (Not sure that should really count!  The risk of having one hang onto your lip is part of the "fun".)

Dinner still took some work.  We had to shell those 277 crawdads before we could eat them.

Of course we also spent the weekend enjoying camp fires and munching on roasted marshmallows.
And taking a walk (or ride for one of us) down at the beach.  Levi was loving all the little pools made by the low tide!

It's so much fun to see Levi making memories.
Grandpa Tom and Grammy Joey, thank you for having us!

Update: Deck Under Construction

Last weekend (when Levi wasn't home) Gabe and I were able to take down the old deck and a tree that was in the way of the additional deck space we are adding.
Here's a photo of the almost completely demolished deck space.

Gabe ripped boards out while I hauled it all to the recycling dumpster in the driveway.
Pretty full by the end of the demolition.

Since all home improvement projects end up uncovering a surprise, Gabe found some rot in the siding of the house next to the back door.  So most of his work in the evenings last week was getting new siding on and putting on the ledger so that rot will not happen again.

This weekend was all about framing.

And then laying decking boards.

As of right now, Gabe has one more deck board to put in, some trim work to do, a step to build and railing to order (and then put in when we get it).
I'll be back to show the completed project...soon I hope.

Sunday Swim and Supper

Two of us were able to have some fun this weekend, while the other one labored in the sun building our new deck.  Gabe has been working in the evenings all week and the entire weekend on the deck.  With needed (and much appreciated) help from friends and family, I'm happy to report it is very close to completion tonight.  I will post pictures and update the progress on the project tomorrow.

So with Gabe busy working, Levi and I kept ourselves busy this weekend with a trip to the zoo with Grandma G.

And we met friends to swim at the outdoor pool.  Levi LOVED this frog slide.  I literally could not get him to do anything else at the pool today!  He must have slid down it at least 100 times!

After playing at the pool, our friends came over to our house for supper.  Gabe stopped working long enough to BBQ some chicken and eat...so not the most fun Sunday Supper him.  But the rest of us had a good time!

Gabe has said he's pretty excited about going to work tomorrow so he can sit at his desk all day.  Too bad he'll have to come home and work some more!

Summer Fun!

Levi and I have been busy marking things off our "Summer To-Do" list.  It's a good thing because the summer is already half way over!
The weather hasn't been great this week. (Meaning cloudy and not even 80 degrees!)  So a lot of our activities have been inside before swimming lessons or after nap time.
We've made (and "played" with) Peanut Butter Play-Doh

 And we put more of our fresh blueberries to work making muffins and blueberry frozen yogurt!

Levi is spending the weekend at Grandpa and Grandma G's house because Gabe and I have a project to start.  Our old deck is being removed!

But I'll be honest...most of the work will be done by Gabe.  After all, I have to help throw a baby shower on Sunday!  And 48 pink lemonade cupcakes have to get made between now and Sunday afternoon.

"I have a joke for you."

Levi's really into telling jokes right now.  Problem is...he only has one joke.  And it goes something like this:
"Why did the ________________________ cross the road?"
The blank is then filled in with whatever is on his mind at the moment.

For example, here's his favorite one since we had ice cream after playing at the beach on Sunday:
Levi: "Why did the ice cream cross the road."
Me:  " I don't know.  Why did the ice cream cross the road?"
(And here's the punch line, no matter who or what is crossing the road.)
Levi: "Cause a car was coming!"

Silly kid!

Making a come back

Sort of...
I can't believe we haven't had a Sunday Supper in over a month!

Well, after that long hiatus, we had friends over for dinner tonight.  We threw some things on the BBQ and three boys played with every single toy we have (both inside and out).

Since it would have been impossible to capture those three active boys on film, I didn't even try.  But I did take a picture of the one thing I knew would hold still.  This is the blueberry cobbler I made for dessert.  Yummy!

Cobbler note:
I normally prefer a fruit crisp to a cobbler because whenever I've made cobbler the biscuits on top are raw and doughy (not yummy!).  Well, America's Test Kitchen has done it again.  They have perfected the cobbler.  Their secret is "briefly bake the fruit filling before adding the topping.  This helps to jump-start the cooking of the biscuits from underneath, resulting in a uniformly cooked biscuit and a perfect filling."
We agree!

Blueberries and the Beach

We are trying to pack as much into this summer as we possibly can.  Today we marked 2 things off our Summer To-Do List!

This morning we picked 21 pounds of blueberries.  I think Levi only ate one pound!  And I think he even put a few (and only a few) into the two buckets.

I need your help judging a little contest we had while picking today.  (There is no prize for the winner, only bragging rights).  Who picked the biggest blueberry today:
Alexis?

Eric?

Levi?

I won't tell you who really picked this one...Levi ate it!

After dropping our berries in the fridge, we took of to Cannon Beach for the afternoon.

We had a great time.
We played in the sand for hours.  Making race tracks, tunnels and bridges for Levi's race cars.  Collecting shells.  Pretending to be seagulls and crabs.  Hiding race cars in the sand.  Covering Levi in sand.  And just relaxing.

What a wonderful summer Saturday!

(Leave your judgement for the biggest blueberry competition as a comment.  I can't declare a winner as my choice will clearly be bias.)

Part Three: Redwoods

The final part of our trip was to Redwoods National and State Parks.

Of course we hiked to as many big trees as we could!
This is Big Tree:

Accurately named because it is over 300 feet tall and more than 20 feet in diameter.  And it's not even the biggest Redwood.  After all, Redwoods are the tallest living things on the planet.
I think the only hike Levi would say he liked was the one we did in Fern Canyon.  And that was because he got to walk in the creek and get all wet!

We saw lots of wildlife.
We camped in Elk Meadow and we saw many of these guys every day.  One evening as we were doing laps (us walking and Levi riding his bike) around the camp ground loops, we saw about 6 bull elk actually in some camp sites.  Pretty cool!

And then on our way back from a hike through one large grove of Redwoods, Gabe spotted this little guy.

I think the banana slugs at our campsite were Levi's favorite wildlife.

We also did some more touristy things while on the Northern California coast.  We spent some time in Crescent City and went to the aquarium.
Here's Levi and Gabe "petting" a shark.

Levi really loved the seal show they put on.  But it wasn't the best aquarium we've visited.
And of course we had to visit the Redwood tourist traps!

 Here's Gabe and Levi on our trip up the gondola.

And of course we had to drive through a Redwood.

We also enjoyed a cloudy afternoon on a jet boat tour of the Klamath River.  We saw lots of bald eagles, osprey, harbor seals and even another bear cub!  But this video shows you what Levi's favorite part of the boat tour was.



On the long trip home we had to stop for lunch and take a quick tour through Wildlife Safari.
Our favorite animal was the giraffe just eating leaves off this tree right outside our window.

I think everyone had a great time!  But we were all happy to be home and sleeping in our own soft beds again after 11 days on the road.